Where to Go in January 2027: 18 Best Places to Travel

For January 2027, go to Krabi, Tamarindo or Galle for dry-season sun, to Cape Town, Queenstown or Patagonia for southern summer, and to Levi, St. Moritz or Niseko for snow. The 18 places below are grouped by the trip you want, each with its January weather, a mid-range daily budget, whether January is its peak season, and the dates of what is on, checked in October 2026.

• Warmest: Krabi in Thailand, highs of 33.2 °C (92 °F) and the warmest sea here, 28.6 °C (83 °F).
• Driest: Tamarindo in Costa Rica, about 4 mm (0.2 in) of rain in the month.
• Warm in Europe: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 20.8 °C (69 °F), and January is its busiest hotel month.
• Festivals: the Jaipur Literature Festival (January 14 to 18), the Australian Open (January 11 to 31) and Up Helly Aa in Shetland (January 26).
• Lowest daily cost: Phu Quoc at $55 and Galle at $56 a person, mid-range.

January 2027 at a glance

Highs are January averages for 2013 to 2022; budgets are Budget Your Trip's mid-range daily costs per person, updated September 2026; the season compares January with an average month in official tourism statistics. How each was built is at the end.

Winter sun

Eight places promise warm days in January, from Las Palmas at 20.8 °C (69 °F) to Krabi at 33.2 °C (92 °F). Rain is what separates them: Tamarindo gets 4 mm (0.2 in) in the month, Galle 117 mm (4.6 in).

Krabi, Thailand

Best for limestone cliffs and island hopping

Krabi's limestone cliffs drop straight into the Andaman Sea, and Railay, the peninsula between Krabi town and Ao Nang, is cut off from the mainland by them, so boats are the way in. Climbers come for the cliffs; everyone else comes for January, the heart of the dry season. The province's 154 islands include Ko Phi Phi and Ko Lanta.

January brings highs of 33.2 °C (92 °F), lows of 23.1 °C (74 °F), 84 mm (3.3 in) of rain over about six wet days, and a 28.6 °C (83 °F) sea, the warmest of the 18. The Thailand islands itinerary and the Thailand guide cover the coast.

• Things to do: the more than 1,200 stairs to the summit shrine of the Tiger Cave Temple; the karst islands, mangroves and cave paintings of Than Bok Khorani National Park; the fossil shell beach at Ban Laem Pho, about 2 km of slabs along the shore, in Hat Noppharat Thara National Park.
• Season: shoulder. Krabi province's guests in January 2025 were 1.03 times the average month; April and December were busier (Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sports).
• Daily budget: about $71 a person, mid-range (Budget Your Trip).
• Trade-off: dry-season demand fills hotels, so book early.
• Eat: kaeng som, a sour southern curry made with tamarind; kaeng tai pla, a southern Thai curry made with fermented fish entrails.

kallerna (CC BY-SA 3.0)

West Railay beach under the limestone cliffs, Krabi, in January

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Galle, Sri Lanka

Best for colonial fort lanes and south-coast beaches

Galle Fort, built by the Portuguese in 1588 and fortified by the Dutch from 1649, is a UNESCO site and the largest remaining fortress in Asia built by European occupiers. Inside the ramparts are lanes of old houses and a lighthouse.

January brings highs of 30.0 °C (86 °F), lows of 23.2 °C (74 °F) and a 28.1 °C (83 °F) sea. The 10-day Sri Lanka itinerary covers the island.

• Things to do: the National Maritime Museum, in a 1671 Dutch warehouse above the fort's Old Gate; the beach and corals of Unawatuna; a whale-watching boat from Mirissa, one of Sri Lanka's main whale-watching ports.
• Season: peak for the country. Sri Lanka's January 2025 arrivals were 1.28 times the average month (Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority).
• Daily budget: about $56 a person, mid-range, the national figure (Budget Your Trip).
• Trade-off: the wettest of the warm-sea places here, 117 mm (4.6 in) over about 10 wet days. The Galle Literary Festival is in March in 2027 (March 17 to 21), not January, per its site.
• Eat: lamprais, rice and curries baked in a banana leaf by the Dutch Burghers; egg hoppers.
• Buy: a handloom sarong from Barefoot, 41 Pedlar Street, inside the fort.

A.Savin (FAL)

The lighthouse inside Galle Fort, in January

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Phu Quoc, Vietnam

Best for a dry-season island beach on a budget

Phu Quoc is Vietnam's largest island, in the Gulf of Thailand, with a dry season from December to March. The Hon Thom cable car runs out over the An Thoi islands. Its fish sauce was the first Southeast Asian food to win the EU's protected designation of origin, in 2012.

January brings highs of 30.6 °C (87 °F), lows of 22.4 °C (72 °F), 28 mm (1.1 in) of rain and a 28.1 °C (83 °F) sea. The 10-day Vietnam itinerary covers the mainland.

• Things to do: the Phu Quoc Prison museum, a national historical relic; the forest trails of Phu Quoc National Park to streams and quiet beaches in the north; grilled seafood picked from the stalls of the night market near Duong Dong.
• Season: peak for the country. Vietnam's international arrivals in January 2025 were 1.17 times the average month (Vietnam National Authority of Tourism).
• Daily budget: about $55 a person, mid-range, the lowest here (Budget Your Trip).
• Trade-off: Tet falls on February 6, 2027, and the national holiday runs from February 4 to 10, so a late-January trip that runs into February meets the closures.
• Eat: gỏi cá trích, the island's raw herring salad; anything with Phu Quoc black pepper.

Trantuonglam (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sao Beach, Phu Quoc, from the air

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Cancún, Mexico

Best for warm Caribbean water and Maya history

Cancún is a planned resort city on the Yucatán Peninsula, built from 1970, and its Hotel Zone is a strip of beach between the Caribbean and a lagoon. Underwater, MUSA holds about 500 sculptures in three galleries 3 to 6 meters down, in Cancún's marine park.

January brings highs of 28.9 °C (84 °F), lows of 18.0 °C (64 °F), 70 mm (2.8 in) of rain and a 26.7 °C (80 °F) sea. The Mexico packing list lists what to bring.

• Things to do: the more than 350 artifacts of the Museo Maya de Cancún; the El Rey Maya ruins in the Hotel Zone; the ferry from Puerto Juárez to Isla Mujeres.
• Season: peak. Hotel occupancy in January 2025 was 80.6% against a 72.8% year, and it stays above 80% through March (Quintana Roo tourism).
• Daily budget: about $166 a person, mid-range (Budget Your Trip).
• Trade-off: peak-season prices; the same page puts hotels near $256 a night in winter against $137 off-season.
• Eat: tikin xic, whole fish in achiote wrapped in banana leaf; cochinita pibil; panuchos, refried tortillas stuffed with black beans.

Luka Peternel (CC BY-SA 4.0)

White sand and turquoise water along Cancún's Hotel Zone

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Tamarindo, Costa Rica

Best for dry-season surf, turtles and wildlife

Tamarindo is the largest beach town in Guanacaste, a former fishing village that grew on surfing. Next door, Playa Grande in Las Baulas Marine National Park holds the largest leatherback turtle nesting colony on the Pacific coast of the Americas, with females coming ashore between October and May.

January brings highs of 32.9 °C (91 °F), lows of 21.9 °C (71 °F), 4 mm (0.2 in) of rain on fewer than one wet day, the driest of the 18, and a 27.5 °C (82 °F) sea. The 10-day Costa Rica itinerary and the 7-day adventure itinerary cover the country.

• Things to do: the volcanic vents of Rincón de la Vieja National Park; the mangroves of the Tamarindo estuary, a Ramsar wetland; the Tempisque River marshes of Palo Verde, where birds flock in the dry season.
• Season: peak. International arrivals at Liberia airport, the Guanacaste gateway, were 1.35 times the average month in January 2025 (Costa Rica Tourism Board).
• Daily budget: Budget Your Trip's figure ($164) sits below the same page's own hotel prices, so it is left out; its hotels average $291 a night in peak season.
• Trade-off: peak prices. The Santa Cruz fiestas nearby have not published 2027 dates.
• Eat: gallo pinto Guanacaste-style, with red beans; casado; corn horchata with cinnamon.

Tamarindowiki (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Aerial view of Tamarindo town, Tamarindo Bay and Playa Grande (January)

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San Juan, Puerto Rico

Best for a street festival, Spanish forts and a warm sea

Old San Juan's streets end at Castillo San Felipe del Morro, begun in 1539 to guard the bay and a UNESCO site since 1983. The mayor of San Juan has announced the San Sebastián Street Festival, the end of Puerto Rico's holiday season, for January 21 to 24, 2027, per Metro Puerto Rico.

January brings highs of 29.7 °C (85 °F), lows of 20.6 °C (69 °F), 39 mm (1.5 in) of rain and a 27.0 °C (81 °F) sea. The 5-day Puerto Rico itinerary and the Puerto Rico guide cover the island.

• Things to do: Castillo San Cristóbal, known as the largest fortification Spain built in the New World; the rainforest trails of El Yunque, 13 of them; Laguna Grande in Fajardo, one of three lagoons on the island that glow all year.
• Season: shoulder. Non-resident guests in January 2024 were 1.01 times the average month (Puerto Rico Tourism Company).
• Daily budget: about $218 a person, mid-range (Budget Your Trip).
• Trade-off: the festival draws huge crowds, an estimated 1,083,881 people over four days in 2026, per El Nuevo Día.
• Eat: mofongo, mashed plantain; arroz con gandules, rice with pigeon peas; a piña colada, which the Caribe Hilton says it created in 1954.
• Buy: coffee from Cuatro Sombras, which roasts beans from its Yauco farm at its Old San Juan coffeehouse.

David Trawin (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Crowds at the Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián in Old San Juan (January)

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Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

Best for mild winter sun and a city beach

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is the warmest European city here in January, and its city beach, Las Canteras, runs about 3.1 km behind La Barra, a sandstone reef that calms the water. The city was founded in 1478; Columbus anchored here in 1492, and the Casa de Colón museum in the Vegueta quarter is named for him. The Three Kings Parade, the end of the Christmas season, runs on Tuesday, January 5, 2027, per Canary Islands tourism.

January brings highs of 20.8 °C (69 °F), lows of 14.7 °C (58 °F), 22 mm (0.9 in) of rain and a 19.1 °C (66 °F) sea. The Spain guide covers the mainland.

• Things to do: the pre-Hispanic Idol of Tara at El Museo Canario; the Jardín Botánico Canario, about 500 plants native to the islands on 10 hectares; a hike to Roque Nublo, an 80 m rock 1,813 m above the sea.
• Season: peak. January was the city's busiest hotel month of 2025, 1.22 times the average (Spain's statistics office).
• Daily budget: about $178 a person, mid-range (Budget Your Trip).
• Trade-off: a 19.1 °C (66 °F) sea is bracing, and it is the year's busiest month for hotels.
• Eat: papas arrugadas, salt-crusted potatoes with red mojo sauce; sancocho canario, salt fish with potatoes, sweet potatoes and gofio.

Bengt Nyman (CC BY 2.0)

Playa de Las Canteras, Las Palmas' 3 km city beach, in mid-January

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Muscat, Oman

Best for warm, dry winter by the sea

Muscat sits between the Gulf of Oman and the Hajar Mountains, with the old port of Muttrah and its corniche along the harbor. The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, completed in 2001, is the country's largest and holds 20,000 worshipers. January is the warm, dry heart of an Omani winter.

January brings highs of 25.8 °C (78 °F), lows of 16.2 °C (61 °F), 11 mm (0.4 in) of rain and a 24.3 °C (76 °F) sea.

• Things to do: the 14 permanent galleries of the National Museum of Oman; an opera, ballet or concert at the Royal Opera House Muscat; the stairway down to the sinkhole lake at Bimmah, on the coast road to Sur.
• Season: peak for the country. Guests in Oman's 3- to 5-star hotels in January 2025 were 1.15 times the average month (Oman open data).
• Daily budget: $302 and up a person, mid-range, the national figure (Budget Your Trip).
• Trade-off: winter is peak and prices rise with it. The Muscat Nights festival ran all of January in 2026, but its 2027 dates are not yet published.
• Eat: qabuli, rice with chicken or camel meat and ghee; shuwa, slow-cooked lamb for festive days; Omani halwa.

Francesco Bini (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Muttrah Corniche with the Hajar Mountains behind

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Southern-hemisphere summer

January is high summer south of the equator: long days in Patagonia and New Zealand, and dry, sunny Cape Town.

Cape Town, South Africa

Best for the dry southern summer and long days outdoors

January is Cape Town's dry summer, 13 mm (0.5 in) of rain over about two wet days. The Table Mountain cableway climbs to the 1,067 m plateau, Robben Island is a ferry ride from the V&A Waterfront, and the Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts run from November 25, 2026 to March 29, 2027, per Cape Town Tourism.

January brings highs of 25.8 °C (78 °F), lows of 16.1 °C (61 °F) and a 17.9 °C (64 °F) sea. The 5-day Cape Town itinerary lays out the peninsula.

• Things to do: Zeitz MOCAA, the museum of contemporary art from Africa at the V&A Waterfront; the colony of about 3,000 African penguins at Boulders Beach; the hour-long walk up Lion's Head, popular at full moon.
• Season: peak. International passengers at Cape Town airport in January 2023 were 1.20 times the average month, the nearest official measure (Wesgro).
• Daily budget: about $187 a person, mid-range (Budget Your Trip).
• Trade-off: peak prices, with hotels near $188 a night against $101 off-season; the Atlantic stays cool.
• Eat: bobotie, spiced baked mince; a gatsby, the giant sandwich invented in Athlone in 1976; malva pudding.
• Buy: beaded wire art at the Greenmarket Square market.

Olga Ernst (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Kaapse Klopse minstrel troupe marching through Cape Town on 2 January

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Puerto Natales, Chile

Best for long summer days for Patagonia trekking

Puerto Natales, on Última Esperanza Sound, is the gateway to Torres del Paine National Park, a UNESCO biosphere reserve with about 252,000 visitors a year, where the W trek takes three to five days. January days are long this far south.

January brings highs of 17.5 °C (64 °F), lows of 6.4 °C (44 °F) and 137 mm (5.4 in) of rain over about 18 wet days. The 10-day Chile itinerary and the Patagonia guide cover the region.

• Things to do: the 200 m Milodón Cave, where giant ground sloth remains were found; the catamaran to the Balmaceda and Serrano glaciers, which sails all year; the Puerto Bories cold-storage plant of 1915.
• Season: peak. Foreign arrivals at the Magallanes border posts were 1.78 times the average month in January 2024, the busiest of the 18 by this measure (SERNATUR).
• Daily budget: Budget Your Trip's figure ($101) sits below the same page's own hotel prices, so it is left out; its rooms average $142 a night in peak season.
• Trade-off: wind. November to January are the park's windiest months, and campsites and refugios must be booked before entering the park.
• Eat: cordero al palo, lamb roasted on a stake; centolla, southern king crab; anything with calafate berries.

Thomas Fuhrmann (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The granite Towers of Paine above their lake, Torres del Paine (31 December)

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Queenstown, New Zealand

Best for lake summer and adventure sports

Queenstown sits on Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand's longest lake at 80 km, facing the Remarkables. AJ Hackett opened the world's first commercial bungy on the Kawarau Gorge bridge here in 1988, and the lake's seiche raises and lowers the water in Queenstown Bay by about 200 mm every 26.7 minutes.

January brings highs of 20.9 °C (70 °F), lows of 8.5 °C (47 °F) and 135 mm (5.3 in) of rain over about 11 wet days. The South Island itinerary and the New Zealand guide cover the region.

• Things to do: a cruise on Lake Wakatipu aboard the TSS Earnslaw, a steamer more than 100 years old; the Skyline Gondola up Bob's Peak, running since 1967; the Chinese Settlement and Ah Lum's store in Arrowtown.
• Season: peak. January was Queenstown's top month for guest nights in 2025, 1.24 times the average (New Zealand's Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment).
• Daily budget: Budget Your Trip's figure ($128) sits well below the same page's own hotel prices, so it is left out; its rooms average $476 a night in peak season.
• Trade-off: summer prices, and rain fronts reach Queenstown more than towns to its east.
• Eat: a Fergburger, on Shotover Street, open since 2001; hokey pokey ice cream, vanilla with honeycomb toffee.

Matthias Klappenbach (CC BY 2.0)

Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu from above, with the Remarkables behind (January)

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Snow, skiing and northern lights

Levi, Finland

Best for Lapland snow, skiing and northern lights

Levi is Finland's largest ski resort, 43 slopes and 27 lifts about 170 km north of the Arctic Circle, with 17 slopes floodlit for the short days. Kittilä's polar night ends on December 29, so the sun is back in January, low and brief. The Pond Hockey World Cup runs January 22 and 23, 2027, per Visit Levi.

January brings highs of −9.5 °C (15 °F), lows of −19.2 °C (−3 °F), the coldest of the 18. The ski trip packing list covers the gear.

• Things to do: the snow and ice buildings of the Lainio Snow Village, 45 km from Levi; the ski trails of Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park; snowmobiling on Levi's 886 km of tracks.
• Season: peak. Kittilä's hotel nights in January 2025 were 1.71 times the average month (Statistics Finland).
• Daily budget: Budget Your Trip's figure ($170) sits far below the same page's own hotel prices, so it is left out; its rooms average $752 a night in peak season.
• Trade-off: cold and dark, with lows near −19.2 °C (−3 °F).
• Eat: poronkäristys, sautéed reindeer with lingonberries; leipäjuusto, squeaky baked cheese with cloudberry jam.

DanielMichaelPerry (CC0)

Levi's gondola above the snowbound village of Sirkka in January

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Reykjavík, Iceland

Best for northern lights and quiet winter hotels

Reykjavík is the world's northernmost capital, and on clear January nights Visit Reykjavík sends aurora hunters to the shore or out of the city center. Dark Music Days fills the city with new music on January 28 to 31, 2027, per the festival, and the Þorri midwinter feast season starts on Friday, January 22, by its rule of the first Friday from January 19 to 25.

January brings highs of 4.0 °C (39 °F), lows of 0.1 °C (32 °F) and 138 mm (5.4 in) of rain and snow over about 17 wet days. The Reykjavík itinerary and the Iceland guide cover the island.

• Things to do: the 100 m ice cave and Áróra northern lights show at Perlan; Þingvellir National Park, about 40 km away; the hot tubs at Sundhöllin, the city's indoor pool of 1937.
• Season: low. The Capital Region's hotel stays in January 2025 were 0.83 times the average month, the quietest here (Statistics Iceland).
• Daily budget: about $311 a person, mid-range (Budget Your Trip).
• Trade-off: fewer than five hours of daylight until January 10, and frequent cloud.
• Eat: a hot dog from Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, open since 1937, "with everything"; hákarl, fermented shark, at Þorri feasts.
• Buy: a lopapeysa, the Icelandic wool sweater, from the Handknitting Association of Iceland, Skólavörðustígur 19.

Petr Kraumann (CC BY 3.0)

Snowy street in Reykjavík at night with Hallgrímskirkja behind, in January

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St. Moritz, Switzerland

Best for snow polo and a frozen lake

St. Moritz hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948, and winter tourism began here in 1864 with a hotelier's bet with four British summer guests. In January the frozen lake hosts the 42nd Snow Polo World Cup, January 22 to 24, 2027, per the tournament.

January brings highs of −2.2 °C (28 °F), lows of −11.8 °C (11 °F). The Swiss Alps itinerary and the Switzerland guide cover the region.

• Things to do: Giovanni Segantini's Ave Maria at the Segantini Museum; the funicular up Muottas Muragl to its panoramic restaurant; the Bernina railway to Tirano, over a 2,253 m pass, which has run in winter since 1913/14.
• Season: peak. January was St. Moritz's busiest hotel month of 2025, 1.69 times the average (Swiss Federal Statistical Office).
• Daily budget: $358 and up a person, mid-range, the national figure (Budget Your Trip); St. Moritz in ski season runs higher.
• Trade-off: the busiest hotel month of the year, with cold nights near −11.8 °C (11 °F).
• Eat: Engadiner Nusstorte, walnut-caramel tart from the Engadin; Bündnerfleisch, air-dried beef from Graubünden.

Etiaetia1020 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

People walking on frozen Lake St. Moritz below the town in late January

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Niseko, Japan

Best for deep powder snow and night tubing

Niseko, in Hokkaido, is known for its light powder snow, and Niseko United links four ski areas on one lift pass: Grand Hirafu, Hanazono, Niseko Village and Annupuri. The Sapporo Snow Festival follows from February 4 to 11, 2027, per the festival.

January brings highs of −1.6 °C (29 °F), lows of −8.4 °C (17 °F) and 79 mm (3.1 in) of rain and snow over about 13 wet days. The Japan guide and the what to wear skiing list cover the trip.

• Things to do: a tour of the whisky and gin making at Niseko Distillery, by reservation; a snowshoe walk through the Hanazono forest in a group of eight or fewer; night tubing on the lit slopes at Hanazono.
• Season: shoulder for all hotel guests in Hokkaido (1.06 times average, since August is the island's peak), but peak for foreign guests, 1.79 times average (Japan Tourism Agency).
• Daily budget: Budget Your Trip has no Niseko page, and its Hokkaido rooms sit below its own low-season hotel price, so it is left out.
• Trade-off: ski-season prices for lift tickets, rentals and rooms.
• Eat: jingisukan, grilled mutton, conceived in Hokkaido; ishikari nabe, salmon and miso hot pot.

T DMY (CC BY 3.0)

Mount Yotei from the Hirafu ski slopes, Niseko

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January festivals

Jaipur, India

Best for the literature festival and cool, dry days

The Jaipur Literature Festival turns 20 in 2027 and runs from Thursday, January 14 to Monday, January 18 at Hotel Clarks Amer, per the festival. The Pink City has three World Heritage sites: Amer Fort, Jantar Mantar and Hawa Mahal, five stories with 953 windows.

January brings highs of 21.7 °C (71 °F), lows of 8.2 °C (47 °F) and 19 mm (0.7 in) of rain.

• Things to do: the City Palace museum, still home to the royal family; Nahargarh Fort, on the edge of the Aravalli Hills above the city; the climb through Galtaji, past its pools to a hilltop temple with views of Jaipur.
• Season: peak for the country. India's foreign arrivals in January 2025 were 1.27 times the average month (Ministry of Tourism).
• Daily budget: Budget Your Trip's figure ($20) sits below its own hotel prices, so it is left out.
• Trade-off: cold nights. The 13.5 °C (24 °F) swing between day and night is the biggest of the 18.
• Eat: dal baati churma; gatte ki sabzi, gram-flour dumplings in curry.
• Buy: hand-block-printed cotton from Anokhi, C-11 Prithviraj Road.

Marcin Białek (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Hawa Mahal, Jaipur, in January

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Melbourne, Australia

Best for the Australian Open and summer city days

The Australian Open fills Melbourne Park from January 11 to 31, 2027, with the main draw from January 17 and the singles finals on January 30 and 31, per the tournament; more than 1.3 million fans came through the gates in 2026. Between matches, the city's laneways hold its cafés and street art.

January brings highs of 27.5 °C (82 °F), lows of 15.8 °C (60 °F), about five wet days and a 20.5 °C (69 °F) sea.

• Things to do: the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia's oldest art museum, founded in 1861; the 38 hectares of the Royal Botanic Gardens; the Wednesday evening night market at Queen Victoria Market, held in summer.
• Season: no official monthly figure for Melbourne.
• Daily budget: about $208 a person, mid-range (Budget Your Trip).
• Trade-off: Melbourne is known for "four seasons in one day", and summer hotel prices peak near $257 a night.
• Eat: a dim sim, the dumpling developed in Melbourne's Chinatown in 1945; a chicken parma at a pub.

Gracchus250 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Rod Laver Arena during an Australian Open quarter-final, January

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Lerwick, Shetland

Best for the Up Helly Aa fire festival and Viking heritage

On the last Tuesday of January, nearly 1,000 torch-carrying guizers march through Lerwick and set a replica Viking galley ablaze: Up Helly Aa 2027 is on Tuesday, January 26, with the procession at 7:30 pm, per the organizers, watched by 5,000 or more people. Lerwick is the northernmost major settlement in the UK, an overnight ferry from Aberdeen.

January brings highs of 6.8 °C (44 °F), lows of 2.7 °C (37 °F) and 141 mm (5.5 in) of rain over about 21 wet days, the wettest of the 18. The Scotland guide covers the mainland.

• Things to do: the Shetland Museum and Archives, open to drop in without booking; the walls of Fort Charlotte, built from 1665; the stone causeway to the Iron Age Clickimin Broch.
• Season: no official monthly figure for Shetland.
• Daily budget: $237 and up a person, mid-range, the UK figure (Budget Your Trip); festival week runs higher.
• Trade-off: dark, wet and booked out; tickets for the Up Helly Aa evening halls are very limited, per Shetland.org.
• Eat: reestit mutton soup, Shetland's salted-mutton dish of the festival, with bannocks.
• Buy: Shetland wool knitwear from Jamieson's of Shetland, 93-95 Commercial Street.

Stephen McKay (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Jarl Squad aboard their galley at Lerwick Up Helly Aa, January

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Where to go in January in the US

San Juan is the US pick on this list, at 29.7 °C (85 °F) with its street festival on January 21 to 24. For Hawaii, Honolulu averages highs of 27.6 °C (82 °F), lows of 18.9 °C (66 °F) in January, and the NOAA sanctuary puts the peak of humpback whale season from January through March. The Sony Championship Hawaii golf event plays Waialae Country Club from January 11 to 16, 2027, per the PGA Tour. Honolulu is among the priciest stops researched, about $329 a person a day mid-range (Budget Your Trip); the Hawaii island-hopping itinerary covers Oahu, Maui and the Big Island.

Ossewa (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Diamond Head from Waikiki Beach, Honolulu (December)

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Where should you go in January with kids?

For a beach week with kids, Las Palmas has calm water behind Las Canteras's reef, and Cancún's Hotel Zone has the warm Caribbean at 26.7 °C (80 °F). For snow, Levi floodlights 17 slopes for the short days.

How the places were chosen

The 18 places come from the destinations most often recommended for January in the top search results checked in October 2026, kept where measured weather and dated events back them up. Highs, lows, rain and sea temperatures are monthly averages for 2013 to 2022 from MonkeyEatingMango's city climate records, with temperatures from TerraClimate and rain and sea from the ERA5 reanalysis. Grid averages can differ from a single weather station.

• Daily budget: Budget Your Trip's mid-range average per person per day, from traveler-reported costs (a share of a double room, food, local transport and entertainment; flights excluded), pages updated September 2026. Where its figure sat below the same page's hotel prices, it is left out.
• Season: January divided by the average month of the latest full year of official tourism statistics, from city figures where they exist and regional or national ones where not, as each entry states. Peak is 1.10 or more, shoulder 0.90 to 1.10, low below 0.90.
• Dates: each event date was read off the organizer's or tourism board's own site on October 25, 2026, except San Juan's, which the mayor announced to the press, and Þorri's, which follows its calendar rule.
• Food and shopping: checked against an encyclopedia entry or the shop's own site.
• Photos: from Wikimedia Commons, taken in January or the dry season where possible, with the photographer and license on each.

The same climate records feed the weather section of every MonkeyEatingMango trip plan, and the free packing list generator uses them to pick the gear for a destination's month. For next month, see where to go in February; for last month, where to go in December.

Pick a place and a week, and the planner writes the days, with a time and a cost on every stop: plan a January trip.

Last updated October 2026.